I Love You
by Yami Hime Hikari
Summary: Mara goes to see Ben and say goodbye, set just after Sacrifice and written while I was still absorbing certain facts. Please tell me how to improve.


**AN: SPOILERS FOR SACRIFICE!!!!!!**

**Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, 'cept the plot.**

_**I Love You**_

_Mara, dear little Mara, why don't you follow us?_ These voices were soft, confused, and insistent

_Mara, what happened to you? Why did you fall for that Jedi scum? And trying to stop the Sith? What were you thinking? What has happened to my special Hand?_ This voice was cold, ancient, and evil. Emperor Palpatine.

The wife of the Grand Jedi Master looked around herself in confusion. Where were these voices coming from?

"Old darkness and a new wonderful light, you have," a gravelly voice said behind her.

Mara spun around to face… mist.

Then an annoyed sigh directed her sight downward.

"Who… who are you?" she asked of the small, green alien with the stick and grey robes.

"What _did _that husband of yours tell you about his training? Very well, he is doing, for being so late to it," the alien sighed, taping his stick on the invisible ground.

"You're Yoda, Grand Master of the Jedi Order?" the redhead asked, feeling her emotions drowning in shock.

"That he is, Jade. Perhaps you could show him some respect?" This voice was one she knew and had always loathed.

"The way you did by disregarding his teachings and trying to have him killed, Vader?" she retorted icily as she turned to face him, keeping Yoda in her peripheral vision. "I'd call that the worst disrespect of all." Then she noticed that Vader was not in the armor suit she had always seen him in, but in Jedi robes and the face of an ancient man. "What happened to _you_?"

"This is me without the life support, Emperor's Hand," he said with an odd smile, intentionally baiting her. "The name is Skywalker now."

"I am _not_ his servant anymore!" she shouted. Jacen had just poisoned her, she'd said her brief good-byes to her family, and now _Vader_ was talking to her? What was going on with the Force? "It's Mara Jade _Skywalker_ as it has been for years, you _Sith_," she spat. And here she'd thought her anger towards this man had been resolved years ago.

"Aunt Mara, Grandfather, stop it!" a young man with brown hair was suddenly in their mist, trying to calm down the two former servants of the Dark Side. "We're family! If we weren't all on the same side, we wouldn't be interacting like this! The past is over so _drop it_!"

As the two adults stared in shock at the raised voice and words of the newcomer, Yoda began to laugh. "More sense than both of you together, the young Anakin has. Listen and heed."

"I knew the brains of his childhood would show up and persist along some later generation," chuckled a second old man with a white beard. Then he turned to Mara Jade, ignoring the protests of the elder Anakin. He bowed and caught her hand up to give it a courtly kiss. "I am Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Of our little group, I've been here the longest. You must be the lovely servant of Palpatine. No wonder he named you Emperor's Hand."

Mara drew back her hand sharply, glaring at the Jedi Master still poised over where her hand had been. "Must _everyone_ greet me like that? I _did_ get over my stupidity, you know! I've spent the last couple months wishing I'd killed him during training! Then Jacen wouldn't be doing this!"

She was met with a stunned silence.

"What's happened to Jacen?" her nephew demanded in a panic.

_Oh, Sithspawn,_ she cursed silently. _I didn't mean to say that. Anakin won't take this well._

"Um, Anakin, Jacen's…"

"He's trying to become a true Sith Lord, isn't he?" the elder Anakin cut in when Mara fumbled for words that wouldn't make anyone instantly hate or deny the eldest Solo child. It was much how she hadn't wanted to out-and-out tell Leia her remaining son was a monster.

The former assassin nodded slowly, for once grateful for her old rival's ability to detect and see to the heart of things. Even if this heart was an ugly, misshapen mockery of what a heart should be.

"That would explain it," Kenobi mused. As Mara looked at him in confusion and the other elders watched the Solo man, Obi-Wan explained. "When you died, there was a subtle but definite shift in the Force. A bit like tectonic plates moving on a planet. We had assumed it had something to do with your death, but we hadn't realized the Sith were involved."

"Jacen?" Anakin was plainly in shock. "_Jacen?_ But he's always loved animals and he's such a pacifist… He wouldn't even use the Force at times because he was confused. At Mykr he called the voxyn for us, but he hated every second of it and kept trying to get us to get out. How could _he_ turn into a_ Sith_? It doesn't make _sense_!"

"No, Anakin, it isn't," Skywalker—she couldn't bring herself to call him "Anakin" anymore than he could call her "Mara"―whispered. Then he turned from his grandson to his old underling. "Jade, what about your death would get rid of some all-important love for Jacen? Destroying what is most loved is necessary to become a Dark Lord."

"I can't see how my death would bring about that," she mused. "We were never that close and I've gone from thinking of him as a deluded good boy to an evil monster to be stopped at all costs fairly quick in the last few months. I don't see how—" Suddenly, she gasped and went pale. She knew something. "Ben. It's Ben. He adores Jacen. When he finds out that Jacen killed me, that adoration will turn into an even stronger hatred. I don't know how or why, but it will."

"I'm gong to go see him and make him realize what he's done," Anakin growled. _Angry_ and _full of rage_ seemed not to be able to describe the state the young man was in.

"Don't do anything stupid," Kenobi warned.

"You're dead, not an idiot," Skywalker added.

"I know, I know," Anakin sighed, rolling his eyes. _Did no one trust him on his own anymore?_

"Perfer you to be with your wife, I would," Yoda said, deeply disapproving. "But listen to rants and whining from you, I do not want. Do what you must."

"C'mon, Aunt Mara," Anakin begged, holding his hand out to her. "I don't want to do this without you. I want to see Ben and Uncle Luke and Mom and Dad and Jaina too."

"I'm coming," she sighed. "What are you planning, anyway?" She took his hand and the world suddenly disappeared.

_

* * *

_

_Jacen, you SLIMY, ROTTEN, PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING!!_

The man in question nearly fell out of his comfy chair at this noiseless roar. That sounded like Anakin, but Anakin was dead and there was no one in the room.

_You're wrong about that, _another voice whispered. The man in a pure black uniform looked up to see a flash of long, red hair before a pair of fists slammed into his face and he was flat on the ground, pinned by his baby brother. His _furious_ baby brother.

"Anakin…" he gasped out, staring at the glowing face of his dead brother.

_I hope there's some excuse in this as simple as you being pulling an Uncle Luke on the galaxy,_ the nineteen-year-old growled silently.

_What? _Mara asked her dead nephew silently, without Jacen's knowledge.

_Being too kind and trusting and convinced everyone could be saved if you gave them a chance, _Anakin replied in the same way. Jacen was aware of nothing.

"I… I want to protect… protect Alina," the new Sith gasped out. If Anakin was dead and a ghost, _how_ did he weight so much?

_Tenel Ka can protect the kid just fine without you pulling something this stupid, you idiot, _Anakin snapped._ You're turning into Vader!_

"Our grandfather was a good man," the elder male managed to say around the fists clutching his windpipe.

_Anakin Skywalker is not Darth Vader! _Anakin was shouting quite loudly. Mara wondered absently if other Jedi―living or dead―could hear and would come to investigate.

_And _you're_ not Jacen Solo anymore. _Mara finally got involved in the conversation._ What should we call you, Sith? Trust me, you won't be Emperor any time soon._

"Darth Caedus," the former Jacen Solo managed to say. Anakin's hands were preventing his head from moving. He could not get a fresh image of his aunt to erase his last image of her eyes: vivid green and still bright with a relentless purpose, even as she died.

Anakin slugged the man he had once called brother as hard as he could.

_I got you out of the Yuuzhan Vong complex. I made sure you survived. I talked sense to you when you sat in your old chair and let bugs tie you up for a meal. Do you have any idea what I've done for you? _Anakin shouted as he got off his brother._ And you call this repayment? You don't care at all, do you? Your wife and daughter could die and you'd get over it pretty kriffin' fast! I hope you have a long life Caedus. That will make it that much longer before I have to see you again._

With these words of ice, he kicked the Sith as he got up and went over to Mara.

By the time Jacen could ignore the pain the way Vegere had taught him, the room was empty.

"How did you do that?" Mara couldn't help ask the question as they searched for the remains of the Solo-Skywalker clan.

"Ask Master Yoda," Anakin said with a grin. His earlier anger toward his brother seemed to have vanished. "He's the one who taught me. Said I wasn't supposed to practice unless he or Master Obi-Wan was with me."

"What about…" The redheaded Jedi discovered that a lifetime of rivalry and borderline-hate could not be erased in a matter of minutes.

"Grandfather?" the boy supplied with a grin. "He didn't want to learn the full-body part and only knows how to make part of him solid at a time, so he can't make sure I'm doing it right or anything. It's one of the few things he's useless at."

Then they could feel three familiar Force signiatures close by.

"What are Luke and Ben doing in the medical bay?" the dead wife wondered.

"You didn't vanish, so there's a body," her nephew pointed out rationally. "You go check on them. I'm gonna find Tahiri. She's close."

With that, the two separated.

* * *

_Oh, Ben,_ she sighed. She knew her body was on the table and that that was what her son was crying over but she couldn't really see it. It was as if it was shimmering on the edge of vision, an outline visible at most.

"Mom, I'm sorry," she heard Ben sob. "I'm so sorry. I knew you were there, but I didn't know where. I thought you were okay. If I'd known someone was going after you, I swear, I would've been there. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mommy. Mommy…" With that, he began to wail, knowing his father was doing his own crying nearby in his cabin and everyone else was staying far away out of respect for them.

Mara couldn't stand it any longer.

She went to her son and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight and safe in her embrace.

Her arms sunk into him instead of going around and it was all she could to keep from crying herself.

_Ben, oh Ben, sweetie, my sweet angel, I'm here, _she whispered to him, wanting to make it all better and knowing it was impossible.

"Mommy!" he bawled, reaching out in the Force to hold her tight. Suddenly, she discovered that she could hold her son. If nothing else she could make things a little better._ "Mommy, I'm sorry!"_

_Shh, Ben, it's okay, _she murmured to him, stroking his hair as he held her tight and sobbed into her shoulder_. It's okay. There wasn't anything you could've done, even if you'd been done there with me. It was poison, you know. If there was something I could have done, I would have. If I couldn't, how could you? You know you haven't learned how to heal people with the Force. I love you. I'm glad you weren't there. The Sith would have killed you too. I wouldn't be able to stand that. Stay safe, my baby. Stay safe for me, okay? I love you._

Ben sniffed and held on tighter. "I don't want you to leave, Mommy. I love you. Don't leave me."

_I have to, sweet one, _Mara whispered, feeling her heart break anew as she spoke. I don't think I'm actually supposed to be here._ I came to say goodbye. Do you think your dad will react like you?_

"No." Ben shook his head, refusing to budge as long as he could keep his Force-grip on her. "He'll be much worse. He killed Lumiya. When I told him she didn't kill you, he got worse. I think he feels he turned Dark by killing her when he didn't need to to avenge you. That's what he thought he was doing. There's no way he'll let you go."

_Are you going to?_ she asked gently. Her boy was already upset; she didn't need to make him more so.

"I have to, don't I?" the male redhead said, slowly releasing his mother and sitting on his haunches. "You'll have to leave, no matter what I do, so trying to keep you here by force will just make it hurt more."

_Probably,_ she agreed, kissing her son on the forehead.

_Aunt Mara,_ Anakin whispered from a corner of the room. We have to go now. Ben's head whipped around to look at this new threat. When he saw the face, he was puzzled and had to look closer, trying to figure out just who this dead newcomer reminded him of.

_Anakin Solo, Ben, _the brown-haired young man laughed._ I'm your cousin. I came to visit you once when you were little. You're a lot bigger now. _There was something sad in his smile when he said that. Perhaps because he would always be nineteen._ I know you don't like it, but Aunt Mara and I have to leave now. Take care of Uncle Luke for us, will you? And Jaina? They're both taking this really hard. Be careful of Jacen, though. He's not the guy he was before this all started. _That seemed to be as close as Anakin could get with mentioning his brother and not going back to pummel him again or hurt Ben more.

_I love you, Ben, _Mara whispered as Anakin took them away.

* * *

Much later, she, Yoda, and Obi-Wan were watching the two Anakins bicker with each other about something.

_They are very alike, aren't they?_ she noted.

_More than you realize, _Obi-Wan replied.

_Parents, siblings, and a lack of ambition, Anakin Solo separates from Anakin Skywalker, _Yoda noted.

_Their personalities are nearly the same, _the human Master explained._ If your nephew had any ambition at all, Jacen would probably be the dead one and both Anakins would turn to the Sith._

_Everyone is redeemable, _Mara argued. Then she smiled._ I'm thinking like Luke._

It took a bit of concentration, but she managed to send out a message.

_I love you, Luke. Don't get too worried about Lumiya's death. I love you now and always. Don't beat yourself up so much and look after our son._

_I love you, Farmboy…_

Luke raised his head, hearing the whisper of a familiar voice in his mind.

_I love you, Farmboy…_

_Maybe everything would be okay after all._

_I love you._

**AN: Yes, that's it. I just finished Sacrifice and started writing this, it's after 3 AM. Tell me what you guys think of it, okay?**


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